Available
Project number:
2025_56
Start date:
October 2025
Project themes:
Main supervisor:
Senior Lecturer in Computer Science
Co-supervisor:
Dr Martin Chapman, Lecturer in Health Informatics
Additional Information:
Enabling Health Data Equity through Accessible Patient Portals
Background Patient portals can empower individuals by giving them control over their health data, potentially improving health outcomes. However, the complexity of health data can be a barrier, especially for users with cognitive or language-based disabilities. Novelty & Importance This PhD project will build on our ongoing work developing a stroke dashboard for the South London Stroke Register, focusing on making health data more accessible. You will collaborate with stroke survivors to explore how we can represent complex data, as well as insights and explanations generated by machine learning systems, in ways that are accessible and easy to understand for all users. This project will be the first to explicitly explore novel approaches to making complex health data accessible to stroke survivors. Aims & Objectives This project will: 1)Iteratively develop novel methods for presenting complex health data accessibly, particularly tailored to the language needs of stroke survivors. 2)Implement these methods within a real-world patient portal to provide meaningful, reflective feedback to stroke survivors. 3)Evaluate the efficacy of these approaches on both small and large scales.
We are now accepting applications for 1 October 2025
How to apply
Candidates should possess or be expected to achieve a 1st or upper 2nd class degree in a relevant subject including the biosciences, computer science, mathematics, statistics, data science, chemistry, physics, and be enthusiastic about combining their expertise with other disciplines in the field of healthcare.
Important information for International Students:
It is the responsibility of the student to apply for their Student Visa. Please note that the EPSRC DRIVE-Health studentship does not cover the visa application fees or the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) required for access to the National Health Service. The IHS is mandatory for anyone entering the UK on a Student Visa and is currently £776 per year for each year of study. Further detail can be found under the International Students tab below.
Next Steps
- Applications submitted by the closing date of Thursday 6 February 2025 will be considered by the CDT. We will contact shortlisted applicants with information about this part of the recruitment process.
- Candidates will be invited to attend an interview. Interviews are projected to take place in April 2025.
- Project selection will be through a panel interview chaired by either Professor Richard Dobson and Professor Vasa Curcin (CDT Directors) followed by informal discussion with prospective supervisors.
- If you have any questions related to the specific project you are applying for, please contact the main supervisor of the project directly.
For any other questions about the recruitment process, please email us at